so my first recipe using spaghetti squash was this caprese bake recipe, which i was super excited about because i love caprese salad! it was perfect because i wanted to make a vegetarian dinner and also wanted to engage my little one in our weekly family cooking time. dumping, mixing, scooping. all good fun and then – eating! Continue reading “cook with kids recipe: spaghetti squash caprese bake”

i picked up some beets, butternut squash, brussels sprout and parsnip in preparation for thanksgiving dinner but hadn’t really decided on a recipe yet. then i read my cousin’s social media post and saw that she had a recipe for roasted vegetables that had all of the ingredients i picked up and others i already had at home! so thx cuz for helping me find this recipe! Continue reading “cook with kids recipe: lemon and herb roasted vegetables”

for my little one’s daycare thanksgiving party, each family is to bring a dish for potluck. in addition though, i have to make a complete meal for the little one since i don’t know what ingredients other parents will use in their dishes. since we will be making a whole chicken for our family thanksgiving, i didn’t want to make another whole chicken for the school thanksgiving party. luckily my pressure cooker allows me to make a dish so easily that i can throw everything in and not think about it yet know the dish will be delish! menu chicken … Continue reading daycare thanksgiving meal 2016

little one’s school is having a pre-thanksgiving party! each family signs up on a list with what they will bring. m decided to make sweet potato mash and with our little helper, they were mashed up quite deliciously!

my favorite pickles are new pickles – crunchy, salty and garlicky. unfortunately with my baby’s garlic allergy, i thought pickles were out of the picture. but my little one saw me have some pickles and wanted to have some. so i figured that before i give the bad news that it was impossible, i did a quick online search and found this recipe from Alex Guarnaschelli. Continue reading “cook with kids recipe: dill pickles”

i found this cookbook in a local bookstore and thought it would be fun to find recipes of foods popular in other countries. this recipe was easier to make with the little one so we worked on it together.

when your child has a garlic allergy, some things are tough … savory snacks and stock. when m makes stock, it takes half day. but with my handy new pressure cooker, it can be done in less than an hour. i threw in my staples and voila – stock that i can make, can and save for future use! Continue reading “recipe: vegetable stock”

so my little started a new school! but while previously all students brought in their own lunches and snacks in the previous school, the new school provided 4 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner! unfortunately wheat and eggs are common ingredients in their menu so i will have to pack my little one’s meals. Continue reading “new school, new meal schedule, new system of packing meals”

at Le Pain Quotidien, m got prosciutto, fig and pear tartine with ricotta, honey and wild arugula. usually we have a choice of bread. since we wanted to keep our hands free of allergens when we’re with k, the waiter offered us the option of gluten free vegan crackers.

pine nuts is the only tree nut that k is able to eat (according to the last allergy test) so i decided to make pesto! basic pesto recipe includes garlic and cheese but i decided to go even bare bones with just pine nuts, basil and oil.

i was thinking of making cheesecake for Father’s Day since I knew k could eat cream cheese but i didn’t find a recipe i could be sure of yet and i didn’t have time to experiment with any recipes. but i found a great alternative! i had made gluten free vegan chocolate cake but had not come up with a topping yet. so how about cream cheese frosting?

i found a few recipes i was interested in trying but this one was great because it was a no-cook recipe and had lots of flavor option ideas! i used whipped cream cheese so it may have made the consistency softer and i wasn’t able to pipe a swirly top above the cupcake. but it tasted good with the chocolate cake. i’ll be sure to try it again as well as try the other flavors.

it’s sugar cookie day again at k’s daycare so why not try another recipe? this is called a chewy butter cookie but it’s very similar to the ingredients of other sugar cookies i’ve tried so i decided to give it a shot. the recipe called for a lot of sugar – both white and brown so i reduced the sugar and only went with brown.

the cookies were the perfect level sweet (yikes – imagine if i put in the original amount!) and not too chewy (which is good for a cookie). i think this will be my go-to sugar cookie recipe from now on!

the first food that k showed me lack of interest in was chickpeas – feeding them to me instead of eating it. so when i found these chips in the supermarket, it seemed like a fun way for k to retry chickpeas. i know k can eat chickpeas without an allergic reaction. there are also a few new spices to introduce k to so i picked it up.

i love congee – not only is it comforting but it’s also refreshing and not heavy. love love love it and am pretty sure k will too. i’ve always had congee plain (soupy white rice) but when i was sick mom would add egg – the ultimate comfort food. Continue reading “recipe: fish congee with a “grainy” twist”

we were out and about when i realized i forgot k’s snack! so we went to the deli and looked for something that she could eat. it has three main ingredients: popcorn, vegetable oil and sea salt. k liked it very much!

this isn’t really very original after all bread and butter is quite simple but since we hadn’t introduced k to butter yet, i thought it would be a very easy Sunday morning breakfast. just to make it a little more fun, i cut them with a fun shape with my cookie cutters. yum.

more dry snacks for k! i guess you can say once i started looking for them, there’re not that hard to find. so far i’ve only been focused on savory ones and k doesn’t seem to mind. my latest shopping endeavor led me to these quinoa sticks with chia seeds.